More grading papers today. Purty much the whole day. While the class was discussing the constitution, why we needed a constitution, why the articles of confederation didn't work out. That sort of thing.
Two things I want to talk about in this entry:
First is that it seems as though giving one of these kids 5-10 minutes of undivided attention, it's sometimes enough to make them think that you're they're friend/advocate/whatever. It's kind of like my cat. I can use my existing talents to befriend the following types of students:
Nerdy kids
Angry teenage leftists
Kids who do too many drugs
Hipster trash
Various other 'artsy' kids
Hopefully I figure out how to deal with other kinds of kids eventually. Overachieving kids are easy because a lot of them do their best to befriend you on their own. I've been able to get the respect of some of the jocks by mentioning that I can't come to their game Friday because I'm going to my friends party (PARRRRTY). Lyn has informed me that the grace period of students liking you because you're young only lasts a few years. Better come up with another strategy soon.
Second point is that I question my professional ethics in teaching this government class. I mean srsly. My purpose here is to deliberately dumb down, misrepresent, and otherwise mangle my subject matter so that these kids will pass their tests. The content we're supposed to be teaching is overly simplistic and slanted narrowly toward a rose-tinted vision of how the United States operates in the world and at home. And there is so little room to operate in. Even if I defied the administration and the kids' parents and taught my ideal US government course, what then? I would still have to prepare the kids for the HSAs. I have to think about this more. But questions, I guess:
How do I present my kids with a model of civic engagement that is dynamic and engaged, and not based entirely around passive and atomized activities (i.e. voting, reading the news)? How do I present this when I myself am passive, atomized and cynical?
How do I provide a wider perspective on global affairs than the one offered in the curriculum and in mainstream media while still meeting constraints of time/varying ability levels?
How do I do both of these things without pissing off parents, administrators and still get my kids to pass the HSAs?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Day 10: September 9, 2009
I forgot to mention something of mild importance from yesterday: after finishing with the presentations, we watched this video: Morgan Freeman FTW! And we watched it again today, after the on-level groups finished their presentations.
Important points from today:
The metal group went down in flames. And not in a metal way. In an awkward way. No one would agree to sing except the metal kid, so they just ended up reading his song aloud. Tragic.
But stylistically, it was a lot better than a lot of the other compositions.
I got the opportunity to grade papers. Which was kind of neat. I'm not sure how I will do this as a professional teacher. It's ungodly repetitive, and I couldn't resist the urge to make Star Wars references as I graded.
ALSO! We agreed that I give the lesson on the 11th, giving a lesson on what constitutes Islamic fundamentalism. Pretty cool.
Important points from today:
The metal group went down in flames. And not in a metal way. In an awkward way. No one would agree to sing except the metal kid, so they just ended up reading his song aloud. Tragic.
But stylistically, it was a lot better than a lot of the other compositions.
I got the opportunity to grade papers. Which was kind of neat. I'm not sure how I will do this as a professional teacher. It's ungodly repetitive, and I couldn't resist the urge to make Star Wars references as I graded.
ALSO! We agreed that I give the lesson on the 11th, giving a lesson on what constitutes Islamic fundamentalism. Pretty cool.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Day 9: September 8, 2009
Today, I witnessed the first wave of "rappin' the declaration" projects. The on level classes were still working on theirs, but AP was good to go. A tentative recollection:
About half did poems of some sort, as there was a consensus that that was the 'easiest.' And it was, if you did the kind of half-assed poems that most of them did. Amirite?
The beatnik poem group didn't bring their bongos.
Of those that did songs, the majority did some sort of rap. A majority of those raps were more or less on a par with most of the poems. I am being overly critical of the abilities of 15 year olds to produce great works of art that still fulfill the requirements of a syllabus. But shit, I'm a snob. And my kids are just going to have to fucking deal with it.
There were some groups that really went above and beyond, and thus should be recognized for it. This included some creative appropriations of popular music, such as an amusing version of Lazy Sunday, and no less than two renditions of Like a Boss. Good to see Andy Samberg getting his due. One group made a DVD, and two others did recordings of their songs. There were also some really good original raps, some rather well executed dance moves, and a cover of "Let it Be" performed on ukulele
About half did poems of some sort, as there was a consensus that that was the 'easiest.' And it was, if you did the kind of half-assed poems that most of them did. Amirite?
The beatnik poem group didn't bring their bongos.
Of those that did songs, the majority did some sort of rap. A majority of those raps were more or less on a par with most of the poems. I am being overly critical of the abilities of 15 year olds to produce great works of art that still fulfill the requirements of a syllabus. But shit, I'm a snob. And my kids are just going to have to fucking deal with it.
There were some groups that really went above and beyond, and thus should be recognized for it. This included some creative appropriations of popular music, such as an amusing version of Lazy Sunday, and no less than two renditions of Like a Boss. Good to see Andy Samberg getting his due. One group made a DVD, and two others did recordings of their songs. There were also some really good original raps, some rather well executed dance moves, and a cover of "Let it Be" performed on ukulele
Day 8: September 4, 2009
Rappin' the Declaration? Ballin'!
It was interesting to see the kids engage in creative work. The project was to make a rap/song/poem of the Declaration of Independence, incorporating the basic points of the preamble and conclusion and mention at least 5 of the grievances.
At first, some groups seemed to stall. Others took off immediately into daring projects. Mrs Blank advised me to walk around the room at first to make sure everyone had a handle on what they were supposed to do, and then to hang back and let them work. Which is pretty much what I would have done. Just sayin'.
Note on differentiation: The AP classes were responsible for reading the declaration themselves. For the on level classes we read it together.
Ideas discussed:
Recording a music video
Recording a song
Beatnik poem/poetry slam
Metal song
Ska song
Something with a ukulele
Notable Quote:
Overachiever Girl: "We're going to do a rap! And have costumes! I love group projects! Do you know any gang signs?"
It was interesting to see the kids engage in creative work. The project was to make a rap/song/poem of the Declaration of Independence, incorporating the basic points of the preamble and conclusion and mention at least 5 of the grievances.
At first, some groups seemed to stall. Others took off immediately into daring projects. Mrs Blank advised me to walk around the room at first to make sure everyone had a handle on what they were supposed to do, and then to hang back and let them work. Which is pretty much what I would have done. Just sayin'.
Note on differentiation: The AP classes were responsible for reading the declaration themselves. For the on level classes we read it together.
Ideas discussed:
Recording a music video
Recording a song
Beatnik poem/poetry slam
Metal song
Ska song
Something with a ukulele
Notable Quote:
Overachiever Girl: "We're going to do a rap! And have costumes! I love group projects! Do you know any gang signs?"
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Day 7: September 3, 2009
I think that today was, in many ways, pretty valuable. I've felt, for the past week, in doing procedures, course information, pre-assessments, that I wasn't getting anything done. I mean, on an intellectual level, I realize that this is exactly the kind of stuff you're supposed to be doing in the first two weeks of school, but I still felt impatient. I want to be a teacher. Let's get to teaching already. Srsly. I'm ready.
Well, today I didn't really teach. Instead I played a supporting role as Mrs. Blank showed how she delivers content. Which was, in its way, a relief. I didn't feel any huge pressure; instead I could feel free to chime in and agree or embellish, pass out papers, etc. And I got to observe as she interacted with her students.
Note 1: She asked students as much as possible how much they already knew, and tried to build on that. In a subject like government, where what you teach is dictated by the state and rigorously tested, there is a temptation to talk about content like it's something rote and static. Which it is. But in addressing it the way she did, it was more like a conversation. Overall, it was really impressive, considering how we were talking about Locke, Hobbes, and natural rights, and most of them didn't have a fucking clue what that noise was all about.
Note 2: I got to see how she differentiated between the AP classes and the on-level classes, while still delivering basically the same information. The APs had more independent work, and she was able to move from topic-to-topic quicker, while she spent more effort in the on level class working with them and ensuring that they understood the question.
Note 3: Every class had a couple people who knew the information already, and a majority who didn't. It seemed like she did a good job of keeping the kids who knew that material entertained while ensuring the rest of the class was following along.
Also, choice quotes from Craig:
Craig: You know how Mexico is sending people and invading our country? I think that we should send all of the people on welfare to Mexico to see how they like it.
Mrs Blank: Handshakes, hugging, clasping hands, spitting in hands -- that's an Arabic way of sealing agreements.
Craig: Is that why they smell?
Did I mention that Craig says racist things sometimes? Because Craig says racist things sometimes.
Well, today I didn't really teach. Instead I played a supporting role as Mrs. Blank showed how she delivers content. Which was, in its way, a relief. I didn't feel any huge pressure; instead I could feel free to chime in and agree or embellish, pass out papers, etc. And I got to observe as she interacted with her students.
Note 1: She asked students as much as possible how much they already knew, and tried to build on that. In a subject like government, where what you teach is dictated by the state and rigorously tested, there is a temptation to talk about content like it's something rote and static. Which it is. But in addressing it the way she did, it was more like a conversation. Overall, it was really impressive, considering how we were talking about Locke, Hobbes, and natural rights, and most of them didn't have a fucking clue what that noise was all about.
Note 2: I got to see how she differentiated between the AP classes and the on-level classes, while still delivering basically the same information. The APs had more independent work, and she was able to move from topic-to-topic quicker, while she spent more effort in the on level class working with them and ensuring that they understood the question.
Note 3: Every class had a couple people who knew the information already, and a majority who didn't. It seemed like she did a good job of keeping the kids who knew that material entertained while ensuring the rest of the class was following along.
Also, choice quotes from Craig:
Craig: You know how Mexico is sending people and invading our country? I think that we should send all of the people on welfare to Mexico to see how they like it.
Mrs Blank: Handshakes, hugging, clasping hands, spitting in hands -- that's an Arabic way of sealing agreements.
Craig: Is that why they smell?
Did I mention that Craig says racist things sometimes? Because Craig says racist things sometimes.
Day 6: September 2
FIRST: Today the kids finished up their pre-assessments, and we went over their service project. Which sounds really cool. I like the idea that all students will have coordinate their community service projects. While it's cool to encourage them to do individual stuff, it's possible to make so much more of an impact when you have 120 teenagers working together. Last year they raised a enough money to build a schoolhouse in rural Ecuador, as well as making extremely valuable efforts to help local charities. The student reaction was mixed. No one seemed reluctant, per se. Just some more enthusiastic than others. For the most part, though, I think that most of the students thought that it would be fun; Mrs Blank made it sound like fun.
On to the drama.
Let me describe a student I have. Let's call him Craig. Craig is a senior in a 10th grade Government class (8th period), which he has to take to graduate (he transferred from out of state, so his credits are all screwed up). Craig is someone who can be... Abrasive.
Apparently, while I wasn't in class yesterday, Craig just bullshitted his pre-assessment and didn't look at the questions. He bubbled in a bunch of random circles and then gave it to Mrs. Blank with a smug look on his face. Like it would really piss her off. When she didn't care, he sulked off to the bathroom. When he came back, he actively tried to distract the other students by poking them, etc. Today he made the water-drip sound while other students were finishing their pre-assessments. When we didn't acknowledge it, he tried to draw attention to it by looking around and saying there was a leak. Charmer, amirite? Because of today and yesterday, Mrs Blank decided to move ahead with re-arranging their seating charts, so that Craig will be right in front of her.
On to the drama.
Let me describe a student I have. Let's call him Craig. Craig is a senior in a 10th grade Government class (8th period), which he has to take to graduate (he transferred from out of state, so his credits are all screwed up). Craig is someone who can be... Abrasive.
Apparently, while I wasn't in class yesterday, Craig just bullshitted his pre-assessment and didn't look at the questions. He bubbled in a bunch of random circles and then gave it to Mrs. Blank with a smug look on his face. Like it would really piss her off. When she didn't care, he sulked off to the bathroom. When he came back, he actively tried to distract the other students by poking them, etc. Today he made the water-drip sound while other students were finishing their pre-assessments. When we didn't acknowledge it, he tried to draw attention to it by looking around and saying there was a leak. Charmer, amirite? Because of today and yesterday, Mrs Blank decided to move ahead with re-arranging their seating charts, so that Craig will be right in front of her.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Day 5: September 1, 2009
Today I wasn’t in class too much. My kids were pre-assessing, and there wasn’t that much for me to do. Instead, I sat in the library typing up substitute plans for the social studies department. It was more fun than I would have had just sitting in the classroom waiting for my kids to get done their tests. At least I got to read the news.
Day 4: August 31, 2009
Today was, in its way, an excellent example of top-down educational decision making at its finest. We were supposed to have pre-assessments, which are how teachers (and more importantly, the central office) gauge what the students know at the beginning of a semester. Pre-assessments especially help to measure what has been taught over the course of a school year (i.e., they’re compared to the scores of high-stakes standardized tests such as the HSAs that are administered at the end of the year).
All of this is irrelevant. All of this is irrelevant because the central office sent us the wrong Scantron sheets, so we couldn’t administer it. WTF.
Mrs. Blank did her best at making up for this. She had the class practice procedures for doing group work, which is a surprisingly useful and necessary activity. But what, really, can be done? The students will have to take the pre-assessment tomorrow, and some of them will have to finish it up on Wednesday, which means that we can’t do anything content related because they’ll have forgotten it by then.
An interesting aspect of teaching is this constant level of pressure, of being under the gun. In other work situations, a central-office fuck up like the one that happened today wouldn’t have been a huge deal.
So we do it tomorrow? So what?
Here, there is so little room for negotiation. There is a list of things the students absolutely have to know, and a limited duration in which we can teach them. A strategically placed snow-day can rearrange a whole month of lesson plans. And for the source of this stress to be caused by an administrative oversight rather than nature’s fury is all the more irritating.
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